Those who fight further
by anbufang23
Summary: narusaku after three years of intense training, Naruto must once again go on a journey, but this time, everything he ever knew and holds dear is at stake. Summary sucks, but please read! rating might go up. other pairings decided by vote.
1. Chapter 1

Those who fight further 

A/N: wazzup, guys! This is a story I've been working on for a while now, and hopefully

It will be better than my last one (Life of Naruto,), which was a complete piece of crap. (Which is why I didn't finish it.) Anyway, my writing skills have improved (greatly,) and I **WILL** finish this one.

P.s:

The first chapter may seem a little weird at first, but my writing style will make more sense to you once chapter 2 comes around.

So without further ado, the first chapter!

And so it begins… 

It was still dark when Naruto awoke. He liked it dark, however. Naruto had never been afraid of the dark, even when he was a little four year old, living by himself. To him, Darkness meant unknown possibilities, where he could live in a mansion, be the

Hokage, or whatever else he could imagine.

But when the darkness faded into light, he was no longer the greatest ninja of all time, or the rich man who lived in a mansion, but was Naruto, the four year old who had a pile of old blankets for a bed, a broken stove, and one pair of clothes.

However, Naruto never thought of such things. This is the general thought pattern of Uzumaki Naruto. " O.K, get the 150 pushups and sit-ups out of the way, then maybe I'll make some pancakes before training. Hmm, maybe I'll put blueberries in them! Blueberries, blueberries, there's something I'm forgetting here… oh yeah, we don't have any blueberries, this is Suna. Crap." Which is, actually, the exact thought process of Uzumaki Naruto as he awoke in the cold dark of his tent.

He had been training with Jirayai for nearly three years, and was on his way home. As per Naruto fashion, he was extremely excited (bordering on annoyingly excited,) to see all of his friends again. Throughout the entire three years, he had only sent, and received, two letters to/from his friends, and was excited to show them all what he had learned, from Meditation, to his " Chameleon Technique," which he was very proud of (even though he didn't create it,). But, above, any of the other reasons, (Yes, even Ramen.) was Sakura.

Naruto had long ago grown out of his crush on Sakura. He had fallen in love with the girl. Naruto always believed in her, and it was hard for him not to. To him, Sakura was perfection, proof that God exists, for whom else could have blessed this planet Earth with her presence?

Of course, all of this was going through Naruto's head while he was training (once again, Jirayai had gone off with a prostitute and was most likely passed out in an alley or Brothel somewhere.) Along with these thoughts was self-analysis, of how he had changed. And he had changed.

Naruto had definitely grown up. He was now nearly six feet tall, and weighed 250 pounds. His once limited wardrobe had also changed. He had traded in his old orange jumpsuit for a pair of standard black ninja pants, a black muscle shirt, and over that was an orange and black jacket (which he kept unzipped, on this particular day, due to the heat.) His hair has also grown longer, but instead of keeping it in check with his hitae-ate (not sure on the spelling,) he let the few strands that could fall across his forehead. Instead, he wore is hitae-ate on his arm, embedded in the cloth of his jacket.

Oh, forgot to mention that his jacket and his pants both weigh 70 pounds. The cloth that his clothes were made out of were special in that they would store chakra, and use it to give weight to the clothes. Also, the chakra could be released at anytime, and could give a momentary chakra boost to whoever was wearing it.

Anyway, I think that's about enough of what Naruto is wearing, now let's go to the current situation, which happens to be Naruto having just fallen flat on his face (well not really flat, he had fallen on a fairly large rock) running laps…

A/N: hey guys. I know almost nothing happened in that chapter, but I'll have chap. 2 coming out by either Monday or Tuesday, so don't worry. Oh, and please comment. I love criticism; he's my best friend . Remember, only you can prevent forest fires (by commenting,)


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: SOOOOO sorry that I didn't update on time!! My Internet was down, and I couldn't get the story to any other computer with working Internet, so it was kinda impossible.

If it's any reconciliation, however, Chapter 3 will be posted within the day! So, without further ado…

Oh wait! I forgot to include a disclaimer!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and I must say that if you thought I did then you're a complete and total dumb ass.

Chapter 2:

Sakura Haruno, now 15 years old, had just finished her shift in the hospital. It was dark, the hall lights were dimmed and there was no light coming from the rooms. She knew that she should probably go home and take a shower now, or she would just fall asleep (she always did have trouble staying up past 2:00 in the morning, and it was already 2:30,) but for some reason she couldn't leave.

Sakura, like Naruto, had changed a lot over the last three years. Having traded in her old outfit for black shorts, a white tank top, and a chunnin vest which she had dyed pink. She kept her hair up using the Hitae-ate (but she always kept the ribbon given to her by Ino tied around her arm.) Also, she had been taken under Tsunade's wing, and was turning out to be the most talented Med-nin of her generation. Due to the amount of practice she was getting training with Tsunade and working in the hospital, she had become much stronger, acquiring some of Tsunade's famed "Super-human strength,"

Anyway, back to the present situation. Sakura had been studying the book she was reading, in those dimly light hallways, for some time now. The book was ancient, over 150 years old. It was massive in size; the book was roughly 2x2 1//2. There were over 7000 pages; each page was filed to the brim with tiny print and diagrams. This book was everything. Every Med-jutsus known to man, every illness, which ones could be treated with chakra or not, how fast injuries killed someone, how much chakra is needed for certain wounds, a list of Medicinal herbs and another list of recipes to use them in. How to make Antidotes, how to make poisons, and all of this was only in the first chapter, which Sakura had, somewhere around when I said ' Medicinal herbs,' finished.

When Sakura got home to her little one room apartment (she had moved out of her mothers house only two months before,) the first thing she did was cross out another day on the calendar. " Only three more days, Naruto…"

A/N I know that this chapter is really short like the last one, but I promise the next one will be longer, and I'm gonna start using a lot of dialogue (which have been nearly non existent as of late,) Also, remember that it's gonna take a while before Naruto and Sakura get together. It's not gonna be one of those stories where Sakura starts crying about how much of a bitch she is, and Naruto goes " shhh, it's o.k." and the she falls in love with him, and The end. No. Not happening. They'll be together, but you have to be patient.

Anyway, I'll see you next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N well, as I promised, here is chapter 3! No notes today, just the story!

_I'm home…_

That's what Naruto was thinking as he walked towards the gate. ' I'm home…'

Had it really been that long? Had he really been gone three years? Nothing seemed to change, really, except...

" Oh my God!!! They put Obaa-chan's head up there! Hahaha!!" Except for the addition of Tsunade's face on he Hokage Mountain. It wasn't until he had calmed down that he realized Ero-sennin was gone, most likely to the bathhouse for his " research," but whatever. Naruto didn't care too much.

" Uzumaki Naruto! There's a dispatch for you!" said the gate guard. " huh?" Naruto asked. Before the guard could say anything, he walked over and grabbed the piece of paper. Naruto quickly read the short message and stuffed it back into the guard's hands. " o.k. See you later!" he called. He ran off into the direction of the Hokage tower, leaving a slightly bewildered Gaurder of gates.

When he walked into Tsunade's Office, he couldn't have been more surprised. The entire rookie nine, (and Team Gai,) were there. Naruto couldn't believe it. There were banners and streamers everywhere, he was getting hugs from everyone, and suddenly, he remembered what this feeling he was feeling now was.

_It's love._

" Hey Naruto! Long time no see, man!" said Shikimaru. Unlike anyone else in the room, Shikimaru's outfit had not changed. " It's good to be home." Naruto said

" Naruto-kun!" Said a feminine voice behind him. Naruto couldn't put his finger on it. When he turned around, he saw Hinata, who had gotten rid of her stutter. Her voice was much, MUCH more confident, which is why Naruto couldn't recognize her. " Ahh, Hinata-Chan! How have you been?" he asked " I've been dong great, actually…." We have stop here because it was at this point, Naruto noticed what she was wearing. She had, hmmm, how should we word this? _Filled out,_ when Naruto was gone. Now, Naruto was unwaveringly loyal to his Sakura-Chan, but that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate a beauteous female. Also, she had gotten rid of the hoodie, and replaced it with a tight black shirt, a chunnin vest over that, however she did keep the pants she had worn, and these new clothes were… had… hmm, they showed off her…._shapely _curves,

It was when she said "…dating Kiba," That Naruto's attention snapped back to what she had been saying. " You and Kiba are going out?" he asked. " You bet, man!" came another voice, obviously belonging to Kiba. Kiba had grown taller (although Naruto was still slightly taller than him,) and had grown his hair a little longer, but besides that (and that he kept his hood down,) there wasn't much of a difference. However, there was a huge, (and I mean **HUGE!) **difference in Akamaru. As Naruto remembered him, he had been able to fit inside Kiba's Hoodie, but now he was nearly the size of a small horse Kiba saw Naruto staring and laughed. " Oh yeah, Akamaru got pretty big. Apparently he had some Bull mastiff in him, and it made him HUGE." He laughed again.

Naruto, after he had recovered from shock, looked at Kiba and Hinata standing together and smiled. Not one of the big giant goofy ones, the one he used when he was faking it or someone had told a joke, but the one he used when he was really happy. " You guys look really good together, I'm really ha-" Before Naruto could finish, Lee had jumped on his back (with his weights on and everything,) " Naruto! You have remained so youthful, being able to hold up my immense weight! The flame of youth burns strongly in you!" Lee exclaimed. Everyone in the room sweat dropped.

" Ahh, it's good to see you too, Lee, but… If you could please get off my back…" Naruto panted. Lee quickly jumped off. Naruto was surprised when he saw what he was wearing. He was wearing a traditional Gi (think of him as his younger self, except he has the bowl cut still,) instead of the green spandex. " Uh, wow, what's up, Lee?" Naruto asked. Just then TenTen came over " Hey, Naruto!" she said quickly, then over her shoulder, " Neji! He's over here!"

After Naruto had talked to everyone, told them a couple stories about his training journey (they loved the one where he had to fight his way through a mob, who were after Ero-sennin and himself, disguised in his oiroke-no jutsu.) They had all left, telling him where they lived, or where they could talk, and that they would all meet up in a couple of weeks, and Tsunade had crushed him in a giant bear hug, he went out and sat on the steps of the Hokage tower. It was getting late, around 8:00, and he was depressed. He had been glad to see all of his friends; he considered them to be his family, really. But, Sakura had not shown up.

He pulled out a carton of cigarettes, and pulled out his second one over the last two years. He had picked up the habit in the Grass country, where he had injured himself during training. They went to a special doctor, who gave him a special cigarette, made not out of tobacco, but of several different herbs, which not only eased his pain but made him feel more relaxed and at ease, which would keep him from trying to train while injured. He had been given two packs, smoked the first, and kept the second. Right as he put out the cig, he felt arms wrap around him, from behind " Naruto…" It was Sakura. His Sakura-Chan. " Sakura-Chan!!! How are you!" he exclaimed. He turned around to see Sakura Haruno, who was the most beautiful woman he knew. Sakura gave a small smile. " Naruto, it's so good to see you! I'm really sorry I didn't show up for the party, bu-"

"Oh, don't worry, Sakura-Chan!" Naruto said with a big grin plastered onto his face.

Suddenly, the grin fell off, changing into his inquisitive look. " Uh, Sakura-Chan?"

Sakura, however, didn't notice, she was caught up in the way Naruto looked. He had grown much taller than her, and without that stuffy orange jumpsuit, he looked….

"Totally hot!" exclaimed inner sakura 

"N-no! More like, cute." Sakura thought.

Whatever, I know you want him! 

Shutup! Sakura thought back She snapped out of her thoughts, to see Naruto staring at her. His eyes caught her in place. The way that they shone… but she snapped out of his gaze, and coughed. " Uh, umm, actually, the reason I'm so late was because I have a surprise for you…" Naruto looked a little bewildered. " For me?" he said. Sakura giggled. " Of course, who else would it be?" she asked. " Uh, o.k. That sounds like a good plan!" Naruto exclaimed. " Alright, follow me!" Sakura said, dragging him by his hand.

'This seems like a pretty good day…." Thought Naruto.

A/N: ok, so not much naruxsaku, but I'm gonna try to take it slow. (I know the whole, ' I know you want him,' thing was probably a bit too much, though.) Anyway, I want you guys to vote on the other pairings (besides Narusaku, of course) and yes, you can change Kiba Hinata if you want, I have plan for that if you do. I'll let that go till chapter 5. So, anyway, Sayonara!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Sup! I wanted to thank all the reviewers, in, fact, 20 brownie points to anyone who has reviewed.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or Bleach, or A light saber, but I do own a computer that I'm using to type this story on.

It turns out the surprise had been taking him to Ichiraku. The only reason Naruto wasn't inside the little booth munching on Ramen and saying Hi to the old Man and Ayame, he stood, mouth agape. Behind the small stand, there was now a huge cement building, at least as big as the academy building. From Two small chimneys arose small clouds of steam. "Happy Birthday Naruto!" exclaimed Sakura excitedly. Naruto stopped staring at the building and turned to Sakura, with a confused look on his face. "Wha? It's almost December, my Birthday is in October!" he said. Sakura giggled. "Yeah, I know! I missed three of your birthdays, so, I'm making it up to you! This one is for your 13th birthday." She explained. Naruto Smiled, and gave her a quick hug (he hadn't actually realized he had gone and hugged her, so he was a bit embarrassed.) "Th-thanks Sakura-chan!"

As soon as they walked into the small booth (still with only five seats,) the old man and Ayame went crazy. "Naruto-kun!" came Ayame's High-pitched voice, "You've grown so tall! You're so much more handsome now!" she said teasingly. Naruto (poor, poor, Naruto,) however, wasn't very good at determining whether people were joking or not. "Uh, uh, th-th-thanks, Ayame-chan." He said in a quiet, withdrawn voice. After they had quieted down, Ichiraku explained why the place had gotten so much bigger.

"Well, we are still pretty small here, but out of fire country, we're _the_ best ramen stand, ever! I'm not sure how word spread so much, though… anyway; I built the cement building to house the forty kitchens that my trainees work in, so that I can send the ramen off to all the customers." Naruto could help but burst out into laughter. During the trip, when he visited any ramen shop, he would complain about how bad the ramen was. Usually the chef would dare him to prove it, upon which Naruto would pull, out of nowhere, a steaming hot bowl of Ichiraku ramen.

"So, Naruto, tell me about what you saw on your trip!" asked Sakura excitedly. Naruto grinned. "Do you want me to tell you everything? Cause that would take the entire night!" while he was expecting something along the lines of "are you serious? I just want to know the important stuff, I don't have time for everything else!" which wasn't really bad. But when she said "yup, every last detail." He seemed a little surprised. "Well, okay… where should I start…?"

It had been over four hours since he had started his monologue, and was still at the second year. "Yeah, so after that we went to this doctor guy. He gave me this special pack of cigs, except with some kind of special healing herb in it…" he said. Sakura looked a little puzzled. "Ok, but what's the point of calling it a cigarette if it doesn't have tobacco?" she asked. "Huh? Oh, well, I don't know what else to call it, really…" after a 5-second period of awkward silence was over, the story picked up. However, Naruto and Sakura were forced to leave the booth after and the old man fell asleep (Ichiraku had almost fallen in a large pot of boiling noodles,). Looking at her watch, Sakura gasped. "Oh my god! It's 3 am! I have to go Naruto, I have to be at the hospital at 7!" she said. She quickly sped off in the direction of her apartment. Naruto looked at her with a smile.

**I think she likes you, kit.**

"…you say that about any girl that looks my way…"

**That's not true!**

"What about that little twelve year old girl at the grocery store a couple months back?"

**She was comin on to you, man!**

"She nodded! She nodded, as in a way of greeting!"

**There was something in that nod!**

"Whatever, I'm tired, and I-"

But before Naruto could answer, he felt someone, a heavy someone, hurl themselves into him. He was knocked to the ground, and when he darted back up, he couldn't see anything. He quickly pulled out two kunai, ready to launch them into his opponent, when he suddenly was knocked over, by, seemingly, the same force.

**Are you RETARDED! Can't you feel his energy?**

"Obviously not, asshole!"

Naruto felt a few drops of rain hit his hand. It gradually began to rain harder, and harder, until almost all noise was drowned due to the rains sound. (For the sake of this story, rain storms can sporadically appear, like they do were I live.) He looked around, knowing that his enemy could be anywhere, even though he hadn't attacked. Then, he saw the creature. Or, more accurately, its outline, thanks to the rain. It was huge, twice as big as he was. He was shaped like a human, but had four arms.

Naruto quickly made four Kage bunshins, and sent them to take care of the monsters four arms. Naruto launched a kunai with an attached exploding tag into the creatures head. Naruto, surprised that the monster didn't make a sound, jumped out of the way of the explosion.

Ayame and Ichiraku ran over to Naruto's spot. "What the hell happened, Naruto-kun?" Ayame said in a worried voice. Naruto just looked at the now blackened (and slightly cratered,) spot of the explosion. "I'm not sure, exactly, but I have to tell Tsunade's." Then, before they knew it, he had disappeared in a yellow flash…

Little did Naruto know that this day would change his life…?

A/N: hey guys! Alright, glad you liked the chapter, (assuming you did,) sorry if you think that I didn't really go on long enough, but I don't really think it's a cliffhanger, at least. So, please, please, please, _please,_ review! Did you know that people who don't review get breast/testicular cancer and then spontaneously combust? Learn more at 


End file.
